Haydee Victoria Suescum

Work since 1996 is colorful, figurative and framed unconventionally. Oil paints are preferred whereas the supports range from canvas to metal, wood, and paper. Some paints are as likely purchased in tubes at an art supply store as at a hardware store. Expressive brushstrokes are large, loose and creamy.  The surfaces combine characteristics of painting and drawing. Hung singly or in groupings, the individual picture planes range from 5x7" to 6x20' or so, often they are arranged off center or appear askew. In them, objects seem to float next to each other in discontinuous space. The twelve years these artworks represent have strengthened three guiding principles: integrate absurd shifts in scale, use strange color combinations and maintain a sense of humor.

The work celebrates vernacular signage (found on the walls of small shops in Spanish speaking portions of the Americas and my country of origin, Panama.)   The awkwardly painted images are self explanatory and form a collective visual heritage which cuts through classes. In addition this vernacular signage is everywhere: used to describe roasted chickens, steaming electric irons with carefully coiled cords, clothing and fancy pink toilets.  I did not need to be taught to appreciate these popular visuals during my adolescence as later I needed introduction to Western Art during the acquisition of a degree in Art History from Wellesley College. But the rigorous skills of observation acquired in college now permit me to locate the vernacular within a Western-based, mainstream "fine art" context.